I think I’m the longest continuous flame user alive (maybe? unless Gary T lost all his money and became a finishing artist, or something similarly awful), I was there at DL from the beginning. So, it’s with regret that I have to just say how very pissed I am at where flame is in 2021.
Always been a supporter and advocate bc I was generally seeing toolset development ahead of the curve. I’ve lived with flame’s many idiosyncrasies because I had been a belief that this was the best way to pull-off the tricky shit/shots. And, I’ve been using this sucker since '92.
Well, pretty sure that I’m moving away from flame, too many better, less expensive, and much less antagonizing ways to get a shot done.
xox all my love to the flamers out there. Keep haranguing AD, and maybe flame will survive another decade. Simon Mowbray.
Out of interest… what are you planning on moving onto for your VFX work? Nuke or Fusion?
Out of curiosity, why are you pissed?
Lol, Simon, my friend, you are angry as hell. What’s going on dude? This seems to be a shakespearean tragedy and I can’t believe you are crossing the street. I think emotions are playing a big deal here. From my point of view flame is in its best moment now. I can be more happy with all the tools available. From planar tracking, motion vectors to 3d tracking, 3d shading and editorial tools. Everything makes sense now. Also I’m obliged to send a big Thanks to the dev flame team and also Grant Kay. These are not easy times for software coders and I think Flame dev team are consistently growing the software in a rational way. My two cents…
Randy, reply for once damn… 
Don’t worry @Fed. They don’t call me the Soccer Dad of the Flame Community for nothin.
Flame is on fire right now (pun intended) and has without a doubt proved itself as the queen of high speed composting and finishing. In the last few years alone we’ve seen the introduction of colour management, connected conform, Python integration, improved planar and 3D tracking, machine learning, massive upgrades to sequence publishing, NDI, and cloud Flames are being tested as well with many studios having them in production.
Plus, and more importantly, never before has the community been more engaged and kicking ass. Here are a few of my personal highlights. ML Timewarp from @talosh has revolutionized timewarping and fluid morphing in Flame. @MikeV has built the Logik Portal, which makes submitting and downloading Python scripts and regular old Batch Setups a breeze. @john-geehreng has quietly been putting out a ton of super simple yet helpful scripts such as the Renamers and Date Time Stampers that aren’t flashy but are the unsung heroes of our Python world. Our maiden entry into Logik Academy by our very own @Jeff has received enormous praise and we are in production of round 2 and putting our own to work doing so. @andy_dill is our first Renderdome Northeastern Regional Champion. @Sean is our Renderdome Canadian Champion. @andymilkis has organized the donations of and given away over $150,000 in prizes over the last 8 years of One Frame of White Competitions, recorded 55 Logik Live Episodes in the last year alone which you all have watched over 5,000 hours-worth on YouTube. @digitalbanshee became the very first female Flame Award recipient. We organized a Patreon page to garner support from the community and 70 Flame Artists from across the globe have leaned in, opened their wallets, and are helping me and @andymilkis do cool stuff for y’all. The Logik Forums are almost a year old, having grown from nothing to over 850 users generating over 17,000 posts, and have accumulated over 2865 hours of active viewing in the last 11 months. We are trialing our very first Logik Hive Mind weekly calls, where a handful of us dive deep into our personal situations and seek precise guidance from peers. And soon, we’ll be rolling these out across the globe as a mechanism to harness all the artists out there that have contacted us wondering how they can help our community. We started the Ask A Flame Artist Podcast and have released a couple episodes with a third one on the way. And many of us are active in the Autodesk Beta Program… @ALan, @Brooks, @johnag , @andymilkis, just to name a few. Last time I checked 75 Flame artists entered their wages into our Anonymous Wage Survey. Oh, and @kirk has removed the stigma associated with calling himself a ‘Flamist.’
And, most importantly, we’ve done this whilst surviving a global pandemic.
As you can tell, I’m moderately passionate about Flame and advocating for its users, so, I’m genuinely curious to hear more about your situation and how we can better serve you.
Everybody gets to complain about something once. But complain a second time? That’s whining. And there’s no whining at Logik.TM
Beyond the portal, not to mention @MikeV scripts. I use Uber export every single day, and I cannot imagine a day without it.
As much as I like to advocate respect for my elders, small though that number may be, I always imagine there is more to the backstory when one’s first and only post is to “flame” flame.
Wow…and what are all those better and less expensive tools? I have been using Flame since the very beginning, and even if sometimes I get angry at it, I have to say that I still have to find something better. Yes, in some cases there are software that can have a single better tool for a specific task but in the end, it is Flame who has the better package and I am still amazed at all what can be accomplished with it.
I don’t think there’s ONE better tool. There are several cheaper ones, sure, with an edge here and there but not one that has all the tools. That’s why I’ll use AE (for example) for more GFX heavy things and Resolve for more color heavy things. Nuke also has some nifty stuff. They’re all tools in a toolbox to me, I like being able to choose but Flame definitely has many strengths. Try heavy roto in AE and it’s an exercise in misery. Detailed masking in Resolve is also futile, hence the inclusion on Fusion. On the other hand, particles in Flame are probably my least favorite thing
As long as I have a client willing to pay the subscription fee (or a facility to work in) I am absolutely happy to work in Flame— more than happy in fact.
But that is often not the case so I use Adobe most of the time for projects.
Definitely starting to use Davinci as well.
I’m just curious what the cheaper alternative is. The only thing that comes close is Resolve. Nuke is not cheaper than Flame. And if you can switch to After Effects, then you didn’t need to use Flame in the first place.
Let’s settle this once and for all. Bring your software of choice and we’ll Renderdome it.
Dibs on optical printer
Probably? Yeah, why not
He’ll be back…
I’ve quit flame a dozen times, cineon, 5d cyborg, shake, nuke, and I always end up back in flame.
Never went back to Henry or Harry though, do miss cmx though from time to time. My favourite cmx room conversation ‘hey that shots a bit weird can you do anything?’ ‘Nope.’ ‘I thought not ok make dubs and send it to the station.’
Are you back in the Uk? I’m still in melbourne
I am, how’s Melbourne ?